Touch Me Nots

16 years ago

For those of you that are looking for wild flowers that love shade to partial shade & also attract Hummingbirds...the Touch Me Nots are just the ticket, IMO. The flowers are beautiful orange, shaped like a horn of plenty & they must be full of nectar because the Hummingbirds spend a lot of time in them, flitting from one to the other.

They also have medicinal characteristics. The leaves contain a substance that stops the itch of poison ivy, mosquito bites, etc., almost immediately.

Most often you'll find Touch Me Nots & poison ivy growing in the same area.

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Comments (3)

Iris GW
16 years ago
Touch me not is botanically known as Impatiens capensis (the orange one, that is). Another common name is Jewel weed.

Known as "touch me not" simply because the seed capsule explodes when you touch it. Often found growing in moist areas near streams or boggy spots.

Here is a link that might be useful: Impatiens capensis
learn2turn
16 years ago
I have these growing like crazy in moist shade to almost full sun. Since they are native (assuming USA), they can't be "invasive" but they are truly aggressive. If you have the right conditions, they will spread like crazy.

I decided this year to pull the seedlings out of a huge area to make way for other plants. I probably pulled out 1000 of these things. I'll leave them in the woods by probably have to pull out a few hundred a year to keep my garden clear. Not to worry, I don't plan to erradicate them and they are so prolific, if I ever want them back, I'll just stop pulling and with in a few years, the migrate back.

The orange flowers are cute but small but they are tall and the vegetation is not all that attractive. I wouldn't grow these anywhere are purpose unless I had acres of land and didn't my huge areas of part-shade taken over by these.

-l2t
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lycopus
16 years ago
It is an annual with shallow roots so it is fairly easy to control. If you pull them in the spring that will be it for the year.

Another nice member of the genus is pale touch me not, Impatiens pallida. It has larger, yellow flowers and grows in moist woodlands.

Here is a link that might be useful: Impatiens pallida